I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 242

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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242 – Disposal
242.
Zurich.
Adrian’s death was officially announced.
[Chairman Adrian has passed away. The funeral will be held five days from now at Zurich Cathedral. Only those with invitations may attend.]
Chairman Parallax announced Adrian’s death through an official statement.
He declared that a funeral would be held.
The message was brief and concise.
It did not take long for that message to spread.
[Mateo]
Mateo personally oversaw the funeral preparations.
He coordinated with the cathedral on various matters, large and small,
and verified the seating arrangements.
He personally reviewed the security routes and the guest list for invitations.
Who to invite, where to seat them—
he handled every detail himself.
Even the most trivial matters
could not proceed without Mateo’s approval.
His obsession bordered on pathological.
It was not a matter of respect for the dead old man.
It was a stage set for his own imminent ‘declaration of power.’
Mateo did not remain in one place.
He moved between hotels while conducting business.
He completely excluded the Parallax headquarters.
Parallax could not be trusted.
Security was no different.
Rather than Parallax personnel,
the external organization, Obsidian Unit, was handling it exclusively.
By having Obsidian Unit—which had no connection to Parallax—handle security, I preemptively blocked any information that could leak.
Obsidian Unit also elevated all of Mateo’s information to the highest security classification and controlled the flow of intelligence.
Even Obsidian Unit did not sit well with Mateo.
The fact that it was Alex’s organization bothered me.
Yet it was still better than Parallax.
There was no choice.
Stringent security was necessary.
I was anxious.
I did not know when Rodrigo would arrive.
That was why this funeral was so crucial.
I had to seize complete control of Parallax here.
I had to end it here.
‘That seat isn’t yours. I lent it to you.’
Alex’s words echoed relentlessly in my mind.
They surfaced unbidden, again and again.
Mateo clenched his teeth.
It was true.
I was using it on loan.
I sat upon a board that Alex had constructed.
I could only move within the boundaries Alex had created and permitted.
I could not cross that line.
But this funeral was different.
I was preparing the funeral myself.
I had orchestrated the movements, summoned the attendees, and was building the stage.
On that stage, Alex would be merely one mourner among many.
This was the first time I was constructing the board.
All I needed to do was make my declaration here.
I could transform the funeral oration into a proclamation of new power.
I would announce Parallax’s future in my own voice.
Not through Alex’s script,
but in my own language—how I would operate Parallax,
what role each faction would assume, and I would redefine our relationship with the Alex Group as well.
We would cooperate.
But not as subordinates.
Mateo unfolded the documents again.
His hands trembled slightly.
I couldn’t tell if it was excitement or anxiety.
Each time, my hand drifted toward the signet ring.
I touched it again and again.
‘I will never let it be taken from me.’
********
[Rodrigo]
He was anxious.
The situation was unfolding in unexpected directions.
A luxury hotel suite room in Zurich.
Rodrigo stood by the window, gazing down at the city below.
He continued to smoke a strong cigar.
The ashtray was overflowing.
“Where is Mateo?”
He asked Carlos, who had entered through the door.
Carlos shook his head.
“He hasn’t been located yet.”
Carlos’s response only deepened my frustration.
I couldn’t even locate Mateo, of all people.
After much deliberation, Rodrigo resolved to eliminate Mateo.
There had been only one reason to keep Mateo alive until now.
Mateo was the bridge connecting me to the Alex Group.
To devour both Parallax and the Alex Group in one fell swoop, I needed Mateo.
Once Mateo had laid out the table,
I intended to swallow everything whole.
But now I had abandoned that ambition.
I had come to understand it was impossible.
First, I needed to consolidate complete control over Parallax.
The Alex Group could be negotiated with separately later.
The Alex Group would need Parallax as well.
To seize control of Parallax, I simply needed to eliminate Mateo.
Kill Mateo and obtain the Signet Ring.
Rodrigo intended to eliminate Mateo before the funeral service commenced.
A chaotic situation.
Not Mateo, but Rodrigo would stand at Adrian’s funeral.
The outside world still knew nothing of Adrian’s death,
nor of the internal strife.
So if I eliminated Mateo,
and Rodrigo stood at Adrian’s funeral, then naturally Rodrigo would become Adrian’s successor.
The funeral had to become Rodrigo’s coronation.
Yet I couldn’t even locate Mateo?
“How is that possible? You can’t even find his location?”
“He moves to different places every day. There’s no pattern. He operates from multiple locations simultaneously. We can’t determine which is real.”
“The Office?”
“He hasn’t been coming in. He hasn’t appeared at headquarters at all.”
“His vehicles?”
“He uses a different vehicle each time. We can’t track him.”
Rodrigo pressed my forehead against the window.
It was bleak.
Unable to track Mateo?
Of course, that was part of it.
The greater problem was.
I couldn’t trust a word coming from Carlos’s mouth.
Carlos was on the traitor list.
There was no reason.
It was merely a feeling.
Whenever Carlos was involved, things never went smoothly.
Even when I went to the hotel to meet with an Alex Group representative.
Carlos failed again at this simple task—locating Mateo’s position, just as he had today.
It was too coincidental to dismiss as mere chance.
If he were merely that caliber of operative, I wouldn’t have been disappointed.
Carlos was a strategist.
He possessed an exceptional eye for reading situations and formulating countermeasures accordingly.
Yet lately, he continued to stumble and fail inexplicably.
I’d even heard rumors that he’d made substantial profits recently through Candy Coin.
The luxury watch adorning his wrist was utterly grating.
But for now, I let it slide.
There was no alternative.
There simply weren’t enough people.
I had to content myself with ensuring he didn’t leak any more critical information.
“Keep tracking him. Move in for the operation as soon as possible.”
“Understood.”
Once Carlos left, Rodrigo picked up his phone and called Pablo.
“Adrian’s funeral is being held.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Adrian’s funeral is being held, I said. Come back immediately.”
– Do you believe that?
“What?”
– That funeral is fake. They’ll proceed without a body anyway. Adrian is alive. I’ll bring him back myself.
Rodrigo’s expression hardened.
“No, Adrian isn’t the priority right now. The funeral is being held, I’m telling you?”
– That’s exactly why Adrian is more important.
“We’re short on people. You need to come help.”
– With Adrian alone, everything changes. There’s no need to worry about such things. Just wait a little longer. I’ll bring Adrian back.
Click.
The call disconnected.
Rodrigo stared at the dead phone for a long moment.
It was utterly absurd.
Pablo had lost his mind.
Completely and thoroughly lost it.
Pablo wasn’t listening to Rodrigo at all.
He was entirely consumed by the information he’d uncovered—the hypothesis that Adrian was alive.
Was there any real possibility that Pablo would find Adrian and return?
I knew it was a futile endeavor, yet I couldn’t help but hope.
This time, I called Eduardo.
“How’s the recruitment progressing?”
“Well. Everything is proceeding smoothly.”
“Adrian’s funeral will be held in five days. That’s D-Day. Make sure all the recruited personnel are sent to Zurich by then..”
“···Pardon?”
Eduardo’s bewildered voice came through.
“Didn’t you hear me? Send them to Zurich.”
“That’s··· the thing..”
“What is it?”
“They don’t have passports.”
“What?”
“These men don’t have passports.”
“What? No passports?”
“You know how it is. Many of them don’t even have proper birth certificates, and most have never even thought about going abroad.”
“Then get them issued.”
“Passports don’t come out in a day or two. How am I supposed to get them made and have them in Zurich in just five days?”
“Throw money at it. Make it happen however you can and send them. Understood?”
“.. Yes. I understand.”
The call ended with Eduardo’s feeble response.
It was frustrating.
Pablo was in Mauritius claiming he’d find Adrian.
Eduardo was busy getting passports made in South America,
and Carlos was unreliable.
There was no one I could use.
Yet I couldn’t stop.
Time was running out.
The longer time passed, the more firmly Mateo would establish himself as Chairman.
Right now it appeared as a struggle for the throne between rivals,
but later it could become actual treason.
This funeral was supposed to be Rodrigo’s coronation.
It couldn’t become the place where Mateo celebrated his victory.
That’s why I was growing impatient.
No people, no time.
If I couldn’t locate Mateo’s position before the funeral,
I was prepared to kill him at the funeral itself.
But the funeral venue was being controlled strictly.
Unauthorized personnel couldn’t enter.
Even the operation to seize control of the funeral venue with Rodrigo’s subordinates wasn’t easy.
My options were shrinking.
The noose was tightening.
Rodrigo exhaled slowly.
It didn’t seem like I could survive if I stopped here.
If Mateo seized actual power
He’ll definitely try to kill Rodrigo first.
I need to do something.
If I don’t become king, I die.
Even if it seems impossible.
There’s no choice.
I have to proceed.
********
[Alex]
I was irritated.
Nothing was going according to plan.
“Mateo’s movements are suspicious. He’s acting differently from the guidelines we provided.”
Allen from the Obsidian Unit was making his report.
“What?”
“It seems he’s thinking about something else.”
No matter how discreetly or carefully Mateo moved,
he couldn’t escape the gaze of the Obsidian Unit watching him around the clock.
The Obsidian Unit was already reporting everything about Mateo to me.
“How so?”
“It seems he’s considering independent operations. The eulogy for Adrian that he’s secretly drafting contains those intentions.”
“Why is that bastard doing this again?”
I asked, my voice thick with annoyance.
“It appears he’s genuinely aiming for the position of Chairman Parallax.”
Allen answered carefully.
“I made him chairman. I even said I’d give it to him outright if he just listened reasonably. So why is he doing this? I can’t understand the reason at all.”
“···.”
“Why would he deliberately choose a thorny path when I’m offering him a flower garden? Why is he so determined to drink poison?”
Had I been too greedy?
I found myself reflecting.
Honestly, I was never greedy.
I just wanted to prevent someone from dying.
I simply didn’t want to lose someone precious like Dennis.
I just wanted us to live happily together.
But if someone learns that we possess the Phantom Grid, they will come.
That was certain.
If I left Chairman Parallax alone, he would definitely come for the Phantom Grid.
He would need the Phantom Grid,
and creating an external enemy was also a good way to unite the chaotic internal atmosphere.
The Alex Group was the perfect target for Chairman Parallax’s tastes.
Profitable, and it could unify the organization.
That’s why I tried to take it over.
I wanted to avoid a pointless war.
I wanted to prevent this exhausting situation.
I chose the simplest method.
I would place Mateo at the forefront and take over Parallax.
Mateo would stabilize Parallax from the front,
and I would eliminate the scheming fools from behind.
But was it really that difficult?
Was it so hard to live like a human being, to live with common sense?
Did they have to harbor ulterior motives and greed?
“And…”
“And what else?”
My voice grew sharper.
“Rodrigo appears likely to cause trouble as well.”
The moment I heard those words, my temples throbbed with a sharp sting.
I’d feared as much, but this bastard too was stirring up chaos.
“So… you’re saying he plans to kill Mateo?”
“That appears to be the case.”
“Why does that bastard Rodrigo have to do this? Can’t he just live as he has been?”
“When circumstances change, don’t thoughts change as well?”
I deliberated for a long while.
What I’d anticipated would be a smooth, manageable affair had spiraled far beyond my expectations.
More than that, it had deviated from my design.
Characters who should have remained faithful to their roles were now moving of their own accord, driven by ambition.
Mateo had defected,
and Rodrigo was preparing a coup.
Both were unnecessary variables.
There was no need to carry such variables forward.
I closed my eyes and sank into thought.
I considered how to resolve this situation.
Whether to keep Mateo in line,
or to empower Rodrigo entirely instead.
After deliberating at length,
no satisfactory answer came to mind.
Neither option appealed to me.
All that occupied my thoughts
were two people completely beyond my control.
After keeping my eyes closed for a long time,
I finally reached a decision.
“Then on that day, capture them both. Dispose of them both.”
“Sir? Dispose of them?”
Allen asked, sounding somewhat taken aback.
“Yes. Dispose of both. There’s no point dragging along pawns that won’t move as intended. This crosses the line—far beyond it.”
“Understood.”
“We vanish from the scenario. Orchestrate it so Mateo and Rodrigo can kill each other—or appear to. That’s the operation.”
“Understood.”
Allen’s eyes flickered with confusion, but he simply nodded and left the room.
I leaned back in my chair.
It was undoubtedly a comfortable seat, yet I found no comfort in it.
Discomfort gnawed at me.
Whether it was my body that ached
or my mind that rebelled, I couldn’t say,
but the situation itself felt suffocating and infuriating.
Still, there was no choice.
I couldn’t trust men brimming with unpredictability and build a future on that foundation.
I needed someone I could rely on.
Trust came before ability.
To quell another unease festering within me, I picked up the phone.
I called Tian Zihao.
“Have we pinpointed Shin Jung-gi’s location?”
– No. We know he’s somewhere in Europe, but we can’t determine exactly where.”
“Did Shin Jung-gi acquire information about the funeral?”
– We haven’t confirmed that either. I suspect he didn’t obtain it.
“Will he come?”
– I don’t know. Shin Jung-gi has completely slipped beyond our calculations now. He’s entirely unpredictable.
Another variable.
Shin Jung-gi—even his location remains unknown.
I feared Shin Jung-gi far more than Mateo or Rodrigo.
Mateo and Rodrigo, driven by greed, cross lines.
And Shin Jung-gi, utterly beyond prediction.
Shin Jung-gi doesn’t move by reason or desire.
He operates from his own sense of justice, his conclusions already carved in stone.
That’s why he can’t be stopped.
If Shin Jung-gi decided to annihilate Parallax entirely?
Should I stop him?
Or should I aid him?
I don’t know.
But one thing was certain:
the strategy I devised to escape death
would only bring greater devastation.
What began with noble intentions
It doesn’t seem to be turning out well.
I shifted my position on the sofa.
I changed my posture because of the discomfort,
but the unease didn’t fade.
I remained persistently uncomfortable.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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